OT - you guys would know... charging system

What is too much of a charge coming from an alternator, just an auto application 12V system.
91 Mercury Capri, I think it's about 14 14.5 volts when running according to the meter, but sometimes the gauge on the dash pegs out over 16 volts, lights get real bright, fan rpm's rival that of a turbine, really spins and pushes some air, this obviously is not right, internal voltage regulator must be intermittently starting to fail or something, then it goes back to normal. Hard to reach Alt. on this little car, never had anything overcharge before, but I think it ruined a battery, would hard a charge for a few minutes and go dead. Used safety glasses, gloves, in case of sulphuric gas, followed all protocoal to avoid blowing up a battery, thought it might have been bad terminal connections replaced those, time for an Alt. ? One thing I am glad to have seen in YT discussion here is battery safety, I take no chances, where before it really never crossed my mind.

My F-600 with a 65 amp Alt., seems to run at aboout 13 volts, seems a little low, but at least a + charge, meter says that is low, new voltage regulator, connections & Alt. too, but found a wire disconnected from that Alt at some point after I made these repairs, was wondering if that could have damaged the Alt., not sure what wire it was though. I used it to jump this vehicle and was comparing readings, had remembered that, as anything I jumped with it in the past seemed to turn right over, this car with that bad battery just soaked it up like a short, then thought maybe the truck Alt. was not up to par.

Regulator is bad. Unless you replace it, it will destroy the lamps, the electronics, and the battery, probably also the ignition system.

Gerald J.

Be sure your battery is good ,ashorted battery can cause all kinds of problems..

Oofla - better get that done then, it does it briefly, but nonetheless not good, good little car and great on fuel.

I'll bet, was dead in the grocery store parking lot, 2 mile walk home, get the ole F-600 had to run errands in that, (never fails to start and run good) then back to the parking lot, no go, just soaking up that voltage, from a truck with a heavy duty battery and new alt., even brought a spare battery, finally got er running, tested that battery, used a meter with a load switch, yep N/G, which does not happen much, even keep the lawn tractor battery up year after year, top em off with distilled water, clear the vents on the caps, play it safe with glasses on etc., this one looked like it had a slight bulge in it, but never smelled like rotten eggs, vents were clear, could have been a dangerous one.